Yesterday, Thursday 2 July, saw a gathering of community and invited guests to participate in the official opening of the Bush Tucker Garden by Nana Julie Ryan.

Events for the day inlcuded:

1. Morning tea
2. Official Welcome to our country by Lenny Merry.
3. Unveiling of our Wadjarri Warrior Statue named by Lenny Merry "Idawarra" (which may also be spelt Irrawarra). This is the Wadjarri name for Mt Murchison.
4. Opening of our Bush Tucker garden with Nan Julie Ryan cutting the ribbon and planting a soap bush.
5. School Tour around the gardens including chicken pens and vegetable garden and orchards.
6. Kangaroo feeding time.
7. Lunch
8. Assembly - student awards
9. Nan Julie's Farewell, official speeches, cake and gift presentation

Here are just a few photos from our amazing NAIDOC Day ceremonies and Nan Julie's retirement celebration.

What a lovely day. We will have more shots from the day which we will post next term. 

Thank you every one who came, you made our day very special!

Sorry Day

Firstly, students learnt why we have Sorry Day. National Sorry Day is held on 26th May every year to remember and recognise all those who were affected by the ‘Stolen Generations’, as well as the negative impact of Australian government policies, practices and attitudes towards the Indigenous people of Australia throughout history.

We read the former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's apology to the Indigenous peoples of Australia, then we talked about the Stolen Generation and how we might feel if it had happened to us.

We made wrist bands which we linked together to make a chain. We wrote our ideas as to how to be a good friend to others on the links.

We made hands which had love hearts and patterns on them in red, black, yellow and white to represent all people and the love we should share for each other no matter what colour creed or race.

Later we listened to the song by Archie Roache, "They took the children away". We felt sad.

We presented the hands, flags, friendship chains and 'Sorry' board to the local members of the community who joined in. Followed by everyone, we marched around our community with our hands, chains and flags in a token of love to say 'Sorry' to the elders for what they had gone through.

We also thought about the actions we may have taken that we might need to feel sorry for, e.g. not being the best friend we could be or maybe saying something mean to someone once, or not sticking up for a friend when they needed help.

Finally, we shared in a sausage sizzle and celebrated Nan Julies birthday with some cake.

What a lovely day!

The students made pledges for Reconcilliation Week

Staff and students have been assisting Mr Bradley with preparing the grounds and planting in the Bush Tucker garden. Our AEIO Julie Ryan turned the first soil in respect to our first nation peoples and traditional owners of the land, the Wadjarri People. This is just the beginning of our native garden. We can't wait to see the finished product with established trees and being able to pick the fruit.

We will celebrate NAIDOC on Thursday 2 July with an official opening of the Bush Tucker garden with many invited dignataries and community members.

On Wednesday the 24th of June, the school travelled to the Murchison Settlement to participate in tennis coaching sessions. The tennis was run by Geraldton Tennis coaches, from Sun City Tennis Academy and Tennis Australia. The students had an amazing time and showed off some great skills with the ball and racket, which built on the skills that they had started learning with their sports teacher Ted Cousens, prior to the clinic. Several students won prizes to take home.

After that they popped in to visit Molly the minature Pony for a pat and finished off with Mrs Tamminga shouting every one a icepole from the roadhouse.

We will be having another tennis coaching session next term and we really look forward to doing this again.

'Deadly Science' is inspiring the next generation of First Nations scientists by mentoring and opportunities. They send STEM resources and mentor remote students to allow them to see what they can be.

Thank you so much for the contribution of 30 books to Pia students!

The kids have been busy PH testing the water in the aqua ponds to make sure that the water quality is suitable for the introduction of the fish next term.

Row, Row, Row Your Boat

Mary had a little Lamb

Three Blind Mice

Be truthful in answering children

Children can worry about many things and it can be hard to help them through difficult times.  General guidelines for answering children’s questions include:

1. Find out what they think they know about the issue before answering.
2. Avoid telling children how they should feel (e.g. don’t worry about that).
3. Keep your answers simple and appropriate to your child’s age.
4. Get your information from reliable sources (e.g. https://healthywa.wa.gov.au/coronavirus).
5. If you don’t know the answer, offer to try to find it out for them.
6. Don’t make promises you can’t keep (e.g. things will be back to normal by your birthday).

For more information, please visit:

 https://www.triplep-parenting.net.au/qld-uken/special-editions/positive-parenting-during-covid-19-queensland/#!/keep-kids-calm-and-optimistic

https://www.triplep-parenting.net.au/au-uken/get-started/parenting-during-covid-19/

Vaccinations

School is where most children encounter infectious diseases such as measles or chicken pox, which can largely be prevented by vaccination. Many schools will ask to see the child’s up-to-date immunisation schedule when you apply.

Immune system boost

To ward off the inevitable sniffles, tummy bugs and other conditions that children easily pass on to each other, give your child’s immune system a boost. Offer a variety of colourful fruit and vegetables, and fill lunchboxes with foods that are high in vitamins and minerals, rather than nutrition-poor snack foods.

Lice

Every primary school has the occasional outbreak of these itchy little pests. Make sure you know the signs that your child has picked up hair lice, and take swift action.

Ready for activities

Don’t try to skimp on safety gear for sports, including goggles for swimming, shin guards for soccer and a helmet for cricket. Accidents happen all the time, but the right gear can turn a potential headache into just a bump.

Emergency contacts

Think carefully about who you nominate as your children’s emergency contact. Who is likely to be available and good in a crisis when you can’t be contacted? Make sure your child knows who the person is, and write the number in their homework diary in the place provided.

Eye test

A clever child who is under-achieving might simply be struggling to see the board and even to read from the textbook. Take your child for an eye test soon so that he or she doesn’t fall behind.

Germ awareness

Sensible hygiene practices are the best way to prevent the passing on of infections that young children bring to school. A study conducted in Pittsburg schools showed that simple steps including handwashing are all that are required to reduce infections in the classroom, without needing to make your child germ-phobic.

Special challenges

Make sure the school knows if your child has any severe allergies, for example to peanut butter, that staple of most of her classmates’ lunchboxes. Tell the teacher in person, as well as giving a written bullet-point explanation of the dangers and action points.

Each newsletter we aim to share posters